If you have him in with other roosters, that will sometimes inhibit his crowing. There seems to be a definate pecking order with the roosters as well as the hens. Seems to me that only the head rooster does all the crowing..........usually. I've had situations where I had 3 roosters in one coop and nobody would crow. As soon as I remove the 2 extra roosters, the one that's left begins to crow. I've noticed that happening several different times.
I have one little bantam rooster that is quite vocal. Once I put him in the pen where I had a larger rooster.............and he never uttered a peep. Soon as I took him out............. Cock-a-doodle-do !!!!!
My new rooster
I know this is a stupid question, but why do they crow?
Don't know! Must be to impress the girls.
tam
If the roosters didn't crow, the sun wouldn't know to come up!
Thought everybody knew that!
;p
Oh of COURSE.... silly me to forget that!
Funny
I have araucana roosters too. I have 20 hens (just starting to lay). The rooster I would like to keep is starting to attack us when we go in the pen. I had this happen last year with a Rhode Island Red rooster (named Roy Rooster) that got real aggressive to us. We gave him to our handyman. He said we made him mean because when he attacked us, we would swing the feed bucket at him. He tamed him tho- used to bring him to work on a tether.
I have 3 other araucona roosters in a dog pen now if anyone near me wants them.
My question is, will this keep happening? My neighbor says eventually all the roosters get protective and aggressive. Is that true? I don't want to go "rooster-less". They also must stay in a confined area (20 x 20 pen with an attached 10 x 10 henhouse. We have bears and bobcats.
What should I do to have a mellow rooster?
My little bantums never get mean but I've heard this about other roosters. My DH kicks away
Elvis and I am worried he'll get mean too. So far he's sweet to us. I think its probably a lot in
their genes.
Tam
I think that first picture of your rooster looks like something that should be framed and hung on the wall..
Yes, that is a very gorgeous rooster, Tam.
I am afraid of ours tho. He goes for your face. Ourhandyman said to carry him around and even if he bites you, ignore him- it will show dominance. I can't do that! If if can't figure out what to do and altho he's gorgeous and is gentle with his ladies- he will be chick and dumplings.
I had ordered 50 chicks online, asking for 5 roosters, thinking I might lose some. Last time I lost a lot of chickies to the hurricanes. Altho they were in a shelter- they still got wet. So I over ordered this time. This was to replace the 29 big ones that a bear killed last summer. Anyway- it looks like I have 7 or 8 roosters. I took the 3 trouble makers out and put them in a dog pen but there are still a few left in the chick pen but they aren't fighting. I had planned to keep the 1 aracouna rooster that WAS sweet for myself and give away or dress the others. I also have a drop dead gorgeous silver-laced brahama rooster (maybe 2).
Do you think I would be better off with him? I wanted (down the road) to add on a 2nd pen to breed the brahamas- to keep them true. Altho I ordered 5 hens I got 3 hens and the 2 boys. They are so pretty.
Does anyone know if arauconas are known for being mean?
I think its best to have just one rooster at a time. And thanks to all the nice compliments about
Elvis. So far he's very pleasant to be around. But he's still a youngster. I suspect if we're
going to have trouble with him, it'll be next year.
My second year of raising chickens, I had my original rooster, bantum named Jade & his two
rooster offspring, Bing & Bob. (From those old "On the Road" movies, Bing Crosby & Bob Hope.
Remember how they never got the girl? Bing & Bob never got the hens. Jade kept the girls
for himself). The third year, Bing & Bob chased off (or killed) Jade. I don't know exactly what
happened to him but Jade dissappeared. Now I have just Bing or just Bob (they look so much
alike I can't tell them apart.) One of them ran off (or killed) the other. Roosters are very
protective of their flock of hens. Now Bing/Bob chases off Elvis. But given the size difference,
I worry that this this not be sustainable.
Tam
We were going to dress a few roosters today but we don't have the time. My hubby is only here on weekends and holidays. He borrowed a bobcat so he is trying to do as much work as he can with it before he has to bring it back.
I believe there are still 3 roosters in the pen but no one is fighting- so far so good. I hate to get rid of the silver laced bramahs (roosters) because they are gorgeous, docile and big. Hopefully by next year we can separate them and the hens into their own pen.
I do put Elvis in a separate stall during the days but on weekends I let all the chickens outside
together during the day light hours. When it gets light enough in the evening hours that I can
put them away before dark, we'll let them out during weekdays as well.
I sure wish I could borrow a bobcat! Someday I may just rent one to get some stuff done around
here.
Tam
Yeah boy, Tam! It does the work of 10 men! My hubby won't be here for a few days until the long New Years weekend- I'm gonna play with it!
When I was a child, my father always kept one rooster for the hens, and since he and I were in the hen house on a regular basis, the rooster never minded us at all. He knew we were there to feed and water them, and gather eggs. My mother, on the other hand, seldom ever set foot in the hen house. One day when Dad was at work, and I was in school, she needed an egg for something she was baking. She went to the henhouse to get it, and the rooster promptly spurred her leg when she entered. He did not know her!!! She was an intruder to him, and he became protective. It was a very ugly puncture wound in the calf of her leg. So, I would think, most roosters are fine with familiar people. If one is over protective, and aggressive, I would put him in the pot (after winning the battle, hopefully!!) LOL!
BAM
I have just never had a problem with any of my roosters. And yep - a nice hot pot would
be the place they'd be heading if I did have a problem!
Tam
They mainly attack when they're protecting their hens. These two boys just got moved to their own pen away from the girls cuz they were attacking the DW. It was either that or the stock pot.
The roosters on the farm are constantly fighting each other and they always have bloody heads and necks. I saw a white game cock flying through the air the other day and thought it wasodd to see him that high. Then right behind him came Abraham Lincoln another of the game cocks sailing through the air like a hawk. He was on a mission. One of the older cocks has gone missing and he was looking bad a couple of weeks before so I'm sure he is dead now. The last time I saw him he was crawling under the barn after I chased one of the younger roosters off him. I wish i could find his body so I could at least harvest his tail feathers. He had very long curving feathers.
Here is a pic of him before his unfortunate demise.
I'm having troubles with Elvis and Bob. Bob is my little bantum rooster. I accidently
shut the two together in a stall overnight a couple weeks ago and Elvis beat up little
Bob pretty badly. So I kept them apart for a few weeks. I let them out together (roaming
outside during the day) but locked them into separate stalls at night. Hopefully
Bob can keep his distance during the day.
When I had two little bantum roosters, Bing & Bob they were OK together. But these
two are just so different in size I fear its just a matter of time before Elvis takes out Bob.
Tam
When I had roosters, I had a big silkie/turken cross. Boy was he mean and ugly and BIG! ( All he got from his silkie mama was the extra toe!) and a silkie roo. I think that because they were raised from chicks together, they had established who was dominant really early. The little one knew that his place was auxilliary backup, only! LOL! My next door neighbors have a lot of roosters who grew up together and they get along fairly well.
Have you been watching BOb and Elvis to see how they do? Maybe now that Elvis " put Bob in his place" they won't need to fight as much. I'm not sure. Of course, chickens attack or peck at injured birds also, so that may compound the issue.... good luck!
You are probably onto something. Bing & Bob were from the same batch of eggs.
That's probably why they got along.
Bob was keeping Elvis in his place when Elvis first got here. But he was very young
and now that he's six months older I think he wants the hens for himself and is pushing
Bob out and taking over.
Yesterday, Bob was definitely not hanging out with the flock. Last night Bob came into
the barn last. He seemed fine - no sign of injury. I watched things this morning when I
let everyone out to insure that there were no fights. I hope that you are right that having the
new pecking order established will have restored peace.
Tam
i dont know what araucanas look like, but i had a rooster that looked pretty similiar, it was a cross between a buttercup roo and a black australorp hen, it just had a larger double comb and not such a striking saddle